Buy games from G2A? You should just stop already, tinyBuild lost out on approx $450K of sales

Steam, Blizzard, EA and Ubisoft killed off the used games market resell, it's no wonder people that are not ready to pay full price for games turn to these websites.
Calling for boycott of key resellers won't work. They need to comply with EU laws first, that would be nice.

TinyBuild should disable the keys/games which were chargedBack (that's business 101), possibly, if their distribution platform (steam?) allows it, display a message to the final users that their game has been disabled because they've bought it from an unauthorized reseller

It's not G2A's fault that resellers are acquiring keys using stolen credit cards. Also it's not G2A's fault that developer releases a game in a bundle which you can acquire for 1$ and then just sell all the games for more than you've paid for the bundle. Resellers could sell their keys on eBay or any other e-commerce platform. Would you be angry on eBay then or an unfair seller? G2A is just an e-commerce platform with narrow target.

QuoteTinyBuild should disable the keys/games which were chargedBack (that's business 101)

This. Then users would file a complain and that would be a catalyst for G2A to act upon.


Last edited by killyou on 21 June 2016 at 8:58 am UTC

Quoting: killyouIt's not G2A's fault that resellers are acquiring keys using stolen credit cards.

While many make the confusion between G2A as a "standard" key reseller store (grey market) and G2A the reselling marketplace (where anyone can resell keys), it would be pretty gullible to not think G2A unofficially organizes the massive scams behind most anonymous resellers on the marketplace

Thanks, I didn't know about G2A. Still have plenty of duplicate keys to get rid of :)

I didn't know G2A was such a problem. Thought 'most' the keys were just bought as surplus/steamsale or from different countries for cheaper.

I did know that there were scammers selling keys on G2A as I have received a couple in the past, but didn't know the problem was of this magnitude. I'll definitely stop buying stuff from them in the future. Thought here in Australia it's quite hard to buy from official chains, the prices are pretty high IMO, generally I just wait for the yearly sales.

Starting to get annoyed with expansions that cost more than the original title..

I was looking at G2A a couple weeks ago while searching for sales on various games. The store didn't seem very legit to me so I started researching it a bit.
According to G2A they are based in Hong Kong at 36/F, Tower Two, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay. They also seem to have a customer service office in Krakow, Poland. They have another web page at www.g2a.co which I suppose is their company page, not the store. In my opinion it all seems a little fishy.
Here's the good part though: they recommend you to contract their "G2A Shield" while buying from them. This will protect you from any unusable keys and allow you a refund if you have problems. Why should this even be necessary? Shouldn't all their keys be usable by default?
An interesting thing to note is they sell keys at one price directly on their store, and have a marketplace with even cheaper prices. For example, they sell XCom 2 at 32,44€ and the cheapest marketplace entry is 24,99€. I wonder what the difference between the two keys are?

Needless to say I didn't buy anything from, nor do I ever intend to do. There are lots of reputable stores elsewhere (not just Steam and GoG) which sell authentic Linux keys at good (but not too good) prices.


As has been mentioned by others, it is a shame only a few developers have regional prices. I live in a EU country with lower average wages than the rest of Europe, and paying 60€ for a computer games is hard for me to justify.
The only developers I know who consistently sell at regional prices are Croteam, possibly because they themselves live in a "poorer" EU country.


Regarding Geolocking of game keys, this would be a disaster for me personally. I have recently emigrated and often visit my family in another part of Europe. If all my games were region locked I wouldn't be able to play them there and would have to buy them again. Also, for privacy reasons I'm always connected to VPNs around the world, which would also make it difficult for me to play my games.
Same thing with translated games, while I speak the language fluently where I live, I prefer my games in English or their original language, if I understand it. This is the reason why I don't buy games physically here, often they are not available in English. Luckily online stores exist.

I have done this with steam Games and programs like norton when I was using windows.
But After reading this, I can see the problem, I know something was a bit wierd with G2A,
but I never bothered to check them, it was just cheap keys.
Still its a bad consumer practice and I see the problem in this.

Its been months sence I last ordered, and I think it was an anti virus key for norton or something like that.
And anti virus programs are sooo overpriced.

But I hade no idea it was this bad, and knowing this will make me stop using stores like G2A.
Sadly the damage is already done as we can see in the article, And like someone said above.
There are other options out there, with cheap prices, not just to cheap.

Very nice article!
I know there isnt everyday you come across this, but I would enjoy more informative stuff like this.
What goes on behind the scenes and so on.

Keep it up.


Last edited by Zelox on 21 June 2016 at 9:55 am UTC

I've bought from G2A in the past but after reading this I'm no longer going anywhere near that site. Thanks for the heads-up Liam.

Quoting: lucifertdarkI've bought from G2A in the past but after reading this I'm no longer going anywhere near that site. Thanks for the heads-up Liam.

Glad to see you and a few others appreciate issues like this.

If I can even turn around a few people into not buying from questionable sources: Job done.

I know a few people don't agree, and that's fine too, like all editorials it's my opinion and we are free to disagree, but I consider the entire business model of G2A highly questionable as it does end up in situations like this repeating.

From the GOG.com terms of service:

"6.11 Other legal rules applying to Store Credit and Bonus Codes: Store Credit and Bonus Codes do not constitute electronic money of any kind. Store Credit and Bonus Codes are non-refundable and non-transferable. Store Credit and Bonus Codes have no cash value and are not exchangeable for cash. Store Credit and Bonus Codes do not constitute personal property rights, have no value outside GOG.com and can only be used to purchase GOG content. Store Credit and Bonus Codes that are deemed unclaimed property may be turned over to any applicable authority. Store Credit is valid for one year from the most recent purchase that gave you Store Credit (so any new purchase resulting in you getting Store Credit will refresh the expiration date of your Store Credit balance). GOG.com may implement additional rules on the use and amount of Store Credit and Bonus Codes in the future."

"9.1 Please follow these rules regarding the GOG services and GOG content:
(a) Only use GOG services or GOG content for your personal enjoyment (for example, don't use them to make money)."

So for example when GOG gives out games for free or the like, you can't take those keys and sell them on G2A. So any such keys can't be legitimate if they appear on G2A. So when G2A in the past has claimed that it has sold legitimate keys of The Witcher 3 for much cheaper than it is on GOG that has been a lie.

This doesn't seem to be so much as a G2A problem but rather those offering their games on the platform. G2A is not responsible for illegitimate material. The statement G2A made should be enough for tinyBuilds to start a criminal investigation and lawsuit with actual damages to be claimed. And the claim here is far more valid than the average copyright claim because customers believe they bought a legitimate copy of the game on sale and thus are not likely to purchase it again. As said before, if someone pulls a chargeback on a key, you disable that key. Then the customer has a way of knowing if he bought something illegitimate and can then sue the retailer.

EDIT: oh and also, gamergate found something: http://archive.is/tLs2H#selection-2587.0-2627.80
Seems to be a hoax up to some degree.


Last edited by reaVer on 21 June 2016 at 11:23 am UTC

Quoting: reaVerThis doesn't seem to be so much as a G2A problem but rather those offering their games on the platform. G2A is not responsible for illegitimate material.

That is the single stupidest thing I will probably read all week. A store is not responsible for illegal content? Paleeeease.

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: reaVerThis doesn't seem to be so much as a G2A problem but rather those offering their games on the platform. G2A is not responsible for illegitimate material.

That is the single stupidest thing I will probably read all week. A store is not responsible for illegal content? Paleeeease.

It's a market place, not a store. Maybe you should read before saying things...

Quoting: reaVer

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: reaVerThis doesn't seem to be so much as a G2A problem but rather those offering their games on the platform. G2A is not responsible for illegitimate material.

That is the single stupidest thing I will probably read all week. A store is not responsible for illegal content? Paleeeease.

It's a market place, not a store. Maybe you should read before saying things...

A market place is a store, you buy things from it. They provide the platform and the service, they are responsible.

No a market place contains sellers and buyers. A store is one seller who owns the to be sold products (until sold) and a market place owns nothing. A store can sell to a market place. G2A owns none of the games. They are providing the market place, which is susceptible to the same problems of any real life market places. The organisation that facilitates these buyers and sellers with a means of meeting eachother by creating a direct online link or by allowing them to enter the market floor irl; is not responsible for each buyer/seller's actions.


Last edited by reaVer on 21 June 2016 at 12:51 pm UTC

Quoting: reaVerNo a market place contains sellers and buyers. A store is one seller who owns the to be sold products (until sold) and a market place owns nothing. A store can sell to a market place. G2A owns none of the games. They are providing the market place, which is susceptible to the same problems of any real life market places. The organisation that facilitates these buyers and sellers with a means of meeting eachother by creating a direct online link or by allowing them to enter the market floor irl; is not responsible for each buyer/seller's actions.

Here's the thing, a marketplace is responsible for the stuff that is being sold there, even if the sellers and buyers are separate from the marketplace itself. Stolen or otherwise illegal products are not allowed to be there. It's the same thing with e-marketplaces just like with any and all websites ever: the website is responsible for all content on it regardless of the source, be it a webmaster or a random user.

Quoting: Samsai

Quoting: reaVerNo a market place contains sellers and buyers. A store is one seller who owns the to be sold products (until sold) and a market place owns nothing. A store can sell to a market place. G2A owns none of the games. They are providing the market place, which is susceptible to the same problems of any real life market places. The organisation that facilitates these buyers and sellers with a means of meeting eachother by creating a direct online link or by allowing them to enter the market floor irl; is not responsible for each buyer/seller's actions.

Here's the thing, a marketplace is responsible for the stuff that is being sold there, even if the sellers and buyers are separate from the marketplace itself. Stolen or otherwise illegal products are not allowed to be there. It's the same thing with e-marketplaces just like with any and all websites ever: the website is responsible for all content on it regardless of the source, be it a webmaster or a random user.

A website cannot knowingly support illegal goods. But checking for these kinds of things is impossible and the buyer/seller still remain responsible for the product they buy or sell. The streets have never been under arrest for drug trafficing and thus G2A is similarly not responsible.

Now I'm sure that if able, G2A would implement a method to check whether a product is legitimate. This however would require steam to set up a key testing API which is one of the fastest way to get brute force attacked; so that is not going to happen.

Quoting: GempalmAs a developer the technical aspect of linking a key to a sale then revoking it is fairly simple to solve. It'a so simple it's pretty much unfair to the consumer.

Edit: what I mean is from a consumer standpoint buying a 'License Key' you are already pretty much boned because it can be revoked at any time for any reason. You don't actually own anything. /Tangent

What I'm asking is, are there currently systems in place that would allow a developer to track Steam keys in this fashion, to tie a specific key to a specific sale or user? I suspect there isn't, because otherwise unauthorized or shady key sales wouldn't be a problem. I wonder if Valve obfuscates keys precisely because of your concerns.


Last edited by Mountain Man on 21 June 2016 at 1:56 pm UTC

Quoting: liamdaweI've adjusted that one bit

Thank you!

Quoting: liamdawethe rest of the editorial stands. G2A built a business around key reselling, they know fully well this is a big repeating issue.

Key reselling would not be a big earner if it was just legit sales. I will never buy from G2A and I stand by my thoughts on them.

I'm wondering, as G2A states, they don't take a share of the price, just the commission they get from their payment providers. This could be not the truth of course.
So it's just the mass of sales. And those are probably quite high, when the prices of the games are cheap.
On the other hand that would also work with completely legit keys. Sad that the credit card system allows it so easily to do fraud and the scammers win.

I'm just thinking about it... isn't there any law that forbids knowingly selling stuff that is stolen? Like dealing in stolen goods? There has to be a way to get justice for tinyBuild!

Quoting: CorbenI'm just thinking about it... isn't there any law that forbids knowingly selling stuff that is stolen? Like dealing in stolen goods? There has to be a way to get justice for tinyBuild!

Fencing is illegal. So now you also know the related law :p However, G2A isn't fencing anything, the seller is fencing. G2A can be held responsible as an aid if it knowingly does so; and it doesn't. If tinyBUILD wanted to gain anything, they should be more concerned about people buying products and then using chargeback (or stolen creditcard) to get their money back; that namely is theft. And going to the police can get the thief on the interpol lists.